Campaigns Basically Spamming Donors

It might be time to relegate Barack and Mitt to your spam folder. Both 2012 presidential campaigns have latched on to email and social media as successful ways to garner donations, but the frequency of such messages may be getting on some supporters' nerves, reports the Washington Post. The Obama campaign is particularly guilty, having sent more than 600 campaign emails this year, one research group finds, almost all of them within the past three months.

Obama's campaign takes two tactics when it comes to these electronic appeals. The first, dubbed the "stalker pitch" by one strategist, takes on an air of familiarity, often starting out with a casual "Hey," and signed by "Barack" or "Michelle." The "Chicken Little" approach is more frantic, claiming that the election is all but over if more dollars aren't donated. Unfortunately, the people most likely to receive these emails have already given to the campaign, and may just find the continued appeals tiresome. But don't expect the emails to end any time soon. The Obama campaign is on a spending spree, and researchers say that emails are a tried and true way to get more money. (More campaign fundraising stories.)